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The
team measured cortisol levels in the saliva of almost 2,000 young
people aged 12 to 19 and asked them about their experiences of
depression.

They were then reassessed between 12 months and three years later.

The
results, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies
of Sciences, showed boys with raised levels of cortisol in the morning
and depressive symptoms were 14 times more likely to develop serious
depressive illness than those with normal cortisol and few symptoms.

The trend was much weaker for girls, suggesting gender differences in the way depression develops.

Serious clinical depression affects one in six people at some point in their lives

Researcher Dr Matthew Owens said: ‘This new biomarker suggests that we may be able to offer a more personalised approach to tackling boys at risk for depression.

‘This could be a much needed way of reducing the number of people suffering from depression, and in particular stemming a risk at a time when there has been an increasing rate of suicide amongst teenage boys and young men.’

Dr John Williams, head of neuroscience and mental health at the Wellcome Trust, which funded the study, said: ‘Progress in identifying biological markers for depression has been frustratingly slow, but now we finally have a biomarker for clinical depression.

‘The approach taken by Professor Goodyer’s team may yet yield further biomarkers. It also gives tantalising clues about the gender differences in the causes and onset of depression.’